It’s the scenario every Bollywood fan dreams of. Your favourite film star comes to your hometown to shoot a movie, and you get cast alongside him. Of course it never happens, unless your name is Dharminder Shoker.
Lucky Dhaminder works at the University of Leicester where filming is currently under way for the Deol Family sequel Yamla Pagla Deewana 2. It stars the three Deol brothers, Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby and if the first installment is anything to go by, it’s set to be a mega-hit.
Dhaminder’s dreams began to unfold a few months ago when he was part of a team that led Sunny Deol on a tour of the city in search of possible locations. Recalling the experience, Dhaminder said: ‘It was very exciting to get to meet such a massive star, and a very proud moment when the entire team complemented the University’s campus.’ But it wasn’t just Dharminder who was star struck – so were the parents and students who were on site for graduation day over the summer and enjoyed a surprise visit from Sunny himself.
The film is currently being shot around the university including the student village and botanical gardens – but there’s three scenes in particular everyone will be looking out for, the ones that Dharminder stars in.
Although he had never acted before the film crew needed a role filled and decided he would be perfect so they cast him as a banker called Mr Jindal, who plays a crucial part of the plot.
His performance has even been praised by Sunny who said: ‘People will certainly notice him in the film and we are very pleased with his contribution.’